Chapter 1057 Open the door, free trade!
Weston Port in Sialanna.
This place is in chaos, or rather, this city and even the country have been in chaos since a long time ago.
The most direct reason was probably that the king, his nobles and ministers were captured, and the entire central authority was forcibly moved to Aundair. Then the nobles and people in various cities began to have ulterior motives.
With the king and nobles almost wiped out, Sialanna lost almost all its legitimacy. Since Aundair had not recovered it at that time and had no power to conquer Sialanna, it was almost inevitable that Sialanna would face such a situation.
It can even be said with certainty that the long-term wars among the cities and nobles of Siyalanna, which consumed the national strength, were in fact driven by Aundair.
The Port of Weston is located on the coast and has an advantageous geographical location, making it almost a must-fight place for Siyalanna in the midst of civil strife.
Here, control may change hands every few months. Every time control changes hands , the person occupying this place will spend more money to build a defense system to ensure that they can occupy this gold mountain for a long time.
Once this place is occupied, with the wealth brought in through the shipping routes, every merchant ship that stops here will be a mountain of gold.
The most recent involuntary transfer of control of Weston Port was taken by Locke Buck of the Buck family.
After occupying the port of Weston, the Buck family did not impose heavy taxes on merchants and the public like the previous occupiers, but instead adopted a different approach.
They directly outsourced part of the defense system of Weston Port.
Because before the Buck family came to power, the previous controllers had imposed heavy taxes, and even collected taxes for two hundred years, which greatly squeezed the wealth of Weston Port.
At the same time, the Buck family is also very clear that it is unrealistic to continue to squeeze wealth from the local people. If they continue to operate as the previous few generations did, it is very likely that the people will rebound from the bottom, which will be more difficult to deal with at that time.
At the same time, after fighting a war, the Buck family really did not have the money to re-defend the port of Weston, and the only thing they could do was to outsource the defense.
This can also be considered a form of decentralization and sharing of power, which will naturally attract some big businessmen to inject funds into it.
In this way, the merchants also hold part of the power, and the Buck family is also a family that has produced a large number of middle-level military officers. In a sense, the two sides have reached a certain balance, making the operation of this port more prosperous.
Today, the port of Weston is open for business as usual, and a ship from Aundair is slowly approaching.
…
"Is that Weston Harbor?"
Mo Cheng stood on the deck and looked out at the port. "It is indeed a prosperous commercial port."
Even if one is not well versed in business, one only needs to look at the huge throughput of merchant ships at the Port of Weston to know that this place must be a gold-devouring behemoth that makes a fortune every day.
At this time, Andel and his companions were not riding on a common wooden boat, but a giant ship made entirely of steel, using a magic circle as its power source and with [10,000 tons] as its basic unit.
Compared with such a steel beast, the wooden merchant ship was like a pitiful and weak baby. The surrounding merchant ships chose to make way for it dozens of miles away to avoid the fate of shipwreck and death.
The size and weight of this steel behemoth was even larger than the steel cruise ship of that day, and the owner of this ship...
"Yeah, it's booming. Maybe I can consider getting some people from the [platform] to develop new business."
Lilia looked at the Weston Harbor in the distance, and she didn't know what was going on in her mind.
She was pulled here by Mo Cheng, but of course Lilia also had her own reasons .
For example, the big ship under your feet is the first steel cruise ship, or warship, built by the [Platform] in cooperation with the Seranis Family Shipyard.
I don’t know if it was because Lilia could not forget the steel cruise ship that she built a steel cruise ship of her own. However, compared to that sea fortress which was used for vacation and entertainment , the one under her feet can be called a battleship and a warship. It is a sea fortress-level existence.
There are hundreds of giant gun barrels alone, which not only use the magic technology of the continent of Khorvaire, but Lilia also added many technologies that Mo Cheng brought back from the mecha world.
Unmanned armor technology, phase armor technology, and even cold nuclear fusion technology have also been overcome through the research of many mages on the [platform].
After all, the difference between a [Mage] and a [Scientist] is only the different energies they control, but in terms of behavior, they both study repeatable technologies and use them.
And the mages under Lilia [Platform]...
Mo Cheng was too lazy to calculate how many people were working for the Platform. The influence of the Platform was no longer limited to the Andair region, but had even begun to gradually extend to the surrounding countries.
Helena frowned slightly. "I know something about the Buck family. They are very hostile to outsiders. If you enter rashly, it may cause conflict."
"Conflict? What conflict?" Lilia waved her fists and said with shining eyes, "We are here to trade. There is no such thing as closing the door to trade in this world. Open the door, free trade...ah!"
Before Lilia could finish her words, she shook her body and tried to avoid Mo Cheng's knuckles. However, no matter how she dodged, even by creating dozens of real shadows in an instant, she could not avoid it.
Even because she already had the strength of a demigod, Mo Cheng didn't have to hold back his strength, and the strike was fast and fierce.
For Lilia, this blow was naturally heavy and painful.
"I think if you continue talking, you will get into the evil slave trade." Mo Cheng lazily stopped Lilia from continuing to talk, and pointed at the steel warship under his feet, "How much does this thing cost?"
"Not much. The related technologies used are not only the magic technology itself, but also the mecha technology. The cost of mastering the mecha technology is part of normal research and development and is not included in the manufacturing cost. If you calculate it this way, the cost of this warship is less than one-fifth of the steel cruise ship I took before."
Lilia quoted a shocking price, so low that it was terrifying.
At the same time, she stamped her feet, indicating something under her feet. "Of course, the most important thing is the operating energy problem. We are still working on it. Otherwise, we would have ended up with a steel island."
"If you, big brother, are willing to let the [Platform] borrow Mr. Stewart, then we can form three aircraft carrier fleets in Aundair in a short period of time."
